RAPID/Collaborative Research: Spatial Variability of Small-Strain Stiffness, Go, and Effects on Ground Movements Related to Geotechnical Construction in Urban Areas

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Increased dense urbanization and traffic congestion in the US is prompting a significant demand for underground space. Underground construction provides sustainable development benefits in terms of creating mass transit and commercial space in areas with existing infrastructure, the ability to capture emissions, and the opportunity to preserve green space by relocating transportation systems and other structures underground. However, development of underground space may result in damage to adjacent infrastructure. Furthermore, planning and constructing underground space is a lengthy process that requires large budgets, and most underground construction are public, taxpayer-funded projects. Efficiencies that can be developed in design and construction of underground space will have a large financial benefit to the US. This Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project will develop tools that will advance the state-of-art and practice in the underground construction industry so that underground space can be created in urban areas in such a way that the process will have minimal impact on adjacent structures and utilities. Recent NSF sponsored research has resulted in advances in techniques to predict, monitor, and control ground movements during excavation. These efforts have shown that small-strain shear stiffness of soil, Go, and its variation with strain is a key ingredient in a model used to predict ground movements. Engineers need to have accurate predictions of ground motion caused by excavations because excessive movements (often and inch or less) can cause damage to adjacent infrastructure and structures. An accurate estimate of movement will allow engineers to adjust their design to limit the movement to an acceptable level. Natural soils are heterogeneous and Go values vary laterally and with depth around the plan area of typical urban excavations. This project will determine the spatial variations of Go around a large excavation in Seattle, WA, specifically the Washington State Convention Center Addition (WSCCA), and quantify the effects of the variations on measured and predicted ground movements that arise during excavation. The project is a collaboration between Northwestern University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Florida and GeoEngineers, Inc. Collaboration, at no cost to the project, with GeoEngineers, a leading geotechnical consulting firm in the country and the geotechnical engineers of record for the WSCCA project, ensures that results will have an immediate impact in the underground construction community. The WSCCA excavation provides a number of unique opportunities. A large portion of the site is green space, and as such, the initial Go variation in most of the site will mostly be unaffected by previous construction activities. Therefore, when Go is evaluated after excavation, a direct measure of the change in the soil properties will be available. These measurements are rarely, if ever, performed. The project team will obtain spatially dependent Go values prior to start of construction using NHERI@UTexas field equipment and SASW arrays; analyze the seismic data via advanced 3-D full waveform tomography to develop a 3-D map of Go; conduct detailed experimental programs using both advanced triaxial and combined dynamic torsional resonant column and cyclic torsional shear devices on thin-wall tube and block samples; develop soil parameters for an advanced constitutive model that includes small-strain stiffness using optimization techniques based on the laboratory data and the field measurements collected during excavation; collect and record field performance and relate it to construction activities; and simulate the excavation process using the finite element method. While addressing ground deformations specifically associated with deep excavations, the project results are applicable to any geotechnical construction activity. There is very little detailed information concerning the stress-strain-strength characteristics of the glacially consolidated soils in the Seattle area, and information developed as part of this project will be useful for any large project in the vicinity. The project team will disseminate its results to the scientific and professional communities by means of journal publications and conference presentations. The interactions among GeoEngineers, Inc. professionals, NU, UT and UF participants via project interaction and seminars automatically will foster the rapid technology transfer of these advances. A NHERI@UTexas user workshop also will be held during the field study.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.